January 29, 2006	Sunday	Zilhaj 28, 1426

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 28: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has sent a letter to secretary general of Interpol (International Police) Ronald Kenneth Noble, asking him not to become a party in the ongoing campaign of the Pakistan government to “settle political scores” with party chairperson and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

According to a party spokesman, the letter has been sent to Interpol by Senator Farooq Naek, who is also counsel for Ms Bhutto and her husband, Asif Zardari, in response to the reports that Interpol had issued red notices for Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari on the request of the Pakistan government.

The PPP senator, in his letter, has asked Mr Noble “not to become a vehicle in the Pakistan government’s campaign against Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari to settle political scores with them”. He has also demanded of the secretary general to “withdraw the red notice if it has been issued”.

Mr Naek has given a detailed account of victimization of Ms Bhutto since November 1996 when her government was “illegally” removed. He wrote, “In a bid to persecute and politically victimize Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari, after the dismissal of her government in 1996, under the cover of so-called accountability, a number of false and cooked-up accountability references were filed before hostile and partial judges to ensure the conviction of both Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari at all costs under a specially-tailored law known as the Ehtesab Act 1997 which was later on replaced by the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance 1999 by the present regime.”

“The sole purpose of these laws was and is to persecute, pressurize, blackmail, harass and defame the reputation of opposition politicians and use it to coerce them to succumb to the illegal designs and wishes of the despotic regime for the purpose of change of loyalties and allegiance to the opposition political party to which they belong,” he said.

Mr Naek further wrote: “It is pertinent to mention that Ms Bhutto had left Pakistan with the permission of the court and her personal attendance was dispensed with in the references filed by former Ehtesab Bureau by the Lahore High Court in the writ petition filed by Ms Bhutto. The order was passed by the court in her absence.”

He wrote: “The correct facts are that Ms Bhutto has not been convicted on merits by any court in Pakistan, the appeal against the order of conviction for non-appearance is pending before the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, the Supreme Court has held that the conviction in absentia is in violation of the Constitution rendering provision of Section 31A of NAB Ordinance unlawful, unconstitutional and null and void.”

Regarding the cases against Mr Zadari, he wrote: “As far as Mr Zardari is concerned, he was released from prison in November 2004 on orders of the Supreme Court after eight years in jail without a conviction. However, during his confinement, he was acquitted in two corruption cases by the high courts concerned, one murder case, two suicide cases and two cases under Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.”

“After his release from prison on the order of the Supreme Court, Mr Zardari’s name was removed from the Exit Control List (ECL) and a passport was provided to him by the government in response to the petition filed by Mr Zardari before the Sindh High Court, Karachi. Thereafter Mr Zardari went abroad many times,” he said.

Mr Naek wrote: “Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari are willing to come back to Pakistan and they are not evading the process of the courts. On the contrary, Gen Musharraf is on record for saying that he would not allow Ms Bhutto to come back to Pakistan.

“Keeping in view the above-described facts and Interpol’s Charter, it is apparent that neither Ms Bhutto nor Mr Zardari can be termed as fugitives. Both of them neither concealed their person nor did they intentionally fail to appear before the courts.”